Drawer slides are designed to function with a minimum amount of friction as a drawer is opened and closed. Such operation allows drawers to be opened and closed with minimal effort. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a situation where drawers sometimes open when they are not intended to open. This phenomenon is especially prevalent in cabinetry designed for mobile applications such as recreational vehicles (RVs), boats or other travel vehicles. Specifically, as the vehicles and the cabinetry are moved the drawers tend to open. Unintentional and unwanted opening can also occur if the vehicle and/or drawer cabinets are not level.
Previous attempts to solve the problem of unintentional drawer opening have themselves had limitations. Limitations include—relatively low resistance to drawer opening, structures that require a large amount of space, moving catches that are subject to wear and breakage and complex structures that add significantly to assembly and material cost. In addition, some devices actually limit the dimensions of the functional drawer assembly itself.
There remains a need for a drawer slide that can reliably and economically keep a drawer from unintentionally opening and function in mobile applications as well as in conventional building applications.